Social/Clinical Research Assistant

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others whom we serve. We accomplish this by providing leadership and excellence in the interrelated areas of patient care, education and research.
Patient care: We promote health and provide superb clinical care while maintaining our strong tradition of reaching underserved populations and reducing health disparities across North Carolina and beyond.
Education: We prepare tomorrow’s healthcare professionals and biomedical researchers from all backgrounds by facilitating learning within innovative and integrated curricula and team-oriented interprofessional education to ensure a highly skilled workforce.
Research: We develop and support a rich array of outstanding health sciences research programs, centers and resources. We provide infrastructure and opportunities for collaboration among disciplines throughout and beyond our university to support outstanding research. We foster programs in the areas of basic, translational, mechanistic and population research.

Position Summary

This position will serve as an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator for the Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program (CHAAMP), situated within the UNC School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. The Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator assists with the execution of study protocols, including screening and recruiting study participants, conducting study visits, and collecting, entering, and reviewing study data.
The Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator will primarily support the Social Motivation Study. The Social Motivation Study is a NIMH funded R01 investigating links between early childhood adversity, social motivation, pubertal development, and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. The Social Motivation Study is a longitudinal study that will enroll 200 preteen girls between the ages of 8-11 and follow them prospectively for 1-year. This study emphasizes multimodal assessment including EMA, fMRI, sample collection for pubertal hormone assay, clinical interview, and self-report. A recent foundation funded sub-study will include an additional focus on social media and AI exposure in this preteen sample.
The Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program (CHAAMP), supported by The Foundation of Hope and housed within the UNC School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, is a multidisciplinary research program focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of anxiety and mood disorders in youth. CHAAMP’s mission is to transform how we predict, prevent, and intervene when children and adolescents experience mental health challenges. Through innovative research and strong community partnerships, CHAAMP seeks to improve access to effective, evidence-based care and address the growing youth mental health crisis.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

Bachelor’s degree; or equivalent combination of training and experience. All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.

Management Preferences

• Strong written and verbal communication skills to work and communicate with diverse populations effectively and professionally.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively as part of a team with demonstrated interpersonal skills and the ability to build and maintain relationships with research participants and community partners.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and Word.
• Experience facilitating MRI scans.
• Experience with community-based research, coordinating all aspects of research studies including recruitment, collecting data via REDCap, performing basic statistical analyses, and facilitating semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions.

Required Licenses/Certifications

Valid current driver’s license and access to a vehicle to support occasional in-person meetings with community partners and/or patient families is required.

Special Physical/Mental Requirements

• Must be able to stand for at least 30 minutes consecutively with or without accommodation.
• Must have the ability to occasionally work early evening hours and/or weekend days to facilitate recruitment and data collection activities.